Mirage
by imstressed
Summary: mirage, a.k.a GEN-E 742 if you're looking to buy. she's better known as luisa "can't-catch-a-break" vargas to close friends and family. mirage is a gen-e super who was kidnapped by Nexus, a corporation whose goal is to mass produce superpowers and flood the black market. Rescued by Robin, she starts a new life as a Teen Titan who still can't seem to catch a break
1. Luisa 'Cant-Catch-A-Break' Vargas

I've always wondered where picture frame stock photos came from, because they're tasteful but also completely boring. Was there a picture frame stock photo photographer? Or did people submit their family portraits to fill empty frames in stores (can you get paid doing that?)? I also wondered about the people in the photos. Did they know each other before the shoot? Did they answer a casting call that their agent booked them or something?

" _Come on LuLu, get your sister_." I jumped, nearly dropping the black desk frame I had been holding as my mother called me from the front of the store.

"Yeah," I replied, setting the frame back down nicely on the shelf before I turned to scan the store for my little sister. I finally spotter her in the toy aisle, her little Teen Titans backpack discarded beside her.

"C'mon Ana, time to go." I said walking over to her. She was busy playing with a Beast Boy and a Starfire doll.

"Cab I det is beeees!" She asked, holding up the Starfire doll in her little chubby hand.

"Ana you have, like, _three_ Starfires at home, come on, Mama's waiting." I sighed, picking up her backpack and slinging it over my shoulder.

"Bud all de oder ones are bo-ken!"

" _Lo siento, pero este es tu maletín_ , Ana. You shouldn't have chewed on their arms."

"Beeeees LuLu!" She wailed, catching the attention of some other nearby shoppers. I huffed as they stared, whispering behind their hands.

"Alright," I said, caving in. "Hand it over." Ana cheered and placed the toy in my hand. " _Ay dios mio!_ Twenty dollars for this stupid piece of plastic? What, does it shit gold?" I scoffed, tossing the Starfire toy back into the toy bin. "Sorry Ana, _not happening_." Ana began to wail, her round face scrunching up as she screamed and stomped her feet.

"Bu bees! Bu bees! Bu bees bees bees bees beeeeeeees!"

" _Luisa!"_ Came my mother's voice and I turned around to see her making her way towards us. " _What did you do? All I did was ask you to get your sister!_ "

"Ugh! Nothing!" I cried, throwing up my hands. "She just wants this dumb expensive toy and she won't take no for an answer!" I watched as my mother picked up the discarded Starfire doll and check the price.

" _I don't see why she can't get it. Most of her dolls back home are either yours or Miguel's hand-me-downs. It can be her early birthday present,_ " she shot me a smug smile and handed the toy to me, " _besides you should be able to get a discount, right?_ " She asked, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively at me.

I frowned, "I feel like you shouldn't be encouraging that." My mother reached up and patted my cheek.

" _Has it ever failed?_ "

"Not yet." She snorted and pushed me off towards the counter with one hand while the other shoved a five dollar bill into my other free hand.

" _Don't talk like that, now go get us a bargain! Ana, Miguel, Papa and I will be outside waiting by the car."_ I grumbled out my discontent but I was the only one around to hear it, Mama and Ana had already left the store.

Readjusting the Teen Titans backpack, I made my way up to the one and only check counter. Behind the counter a tall teenage boy no older than maybe nineteen, with a pock-marked face and stringy red hair.

"Hi," I smiled, immediately locking eyes with the boy; his nametag read: " _Quinn_."

That did the trick. I leaned forward as Quinn's eyes became glassy. He stared back at me with a star-struck expression.

"Just this for me today," I said, making sure that my fingers brushed over his as I handed him the Starfire doll. As I did so, a dopy lop-sided grin appeared on his face.

"Of course. That'll be $21.19." I winced at the price.

"Ohh, that's awfully expensive," I simpered, "isn't there like some discount I could get, Quinn?"

"Oh-uh, uh yeah!" Quinn jumped, punching a few buttons on the cash register. "Would 85% off be good for you?" He asked, looking at me eagerly to see if he had managed to please me.

"Quinn, really?" I giggled, "At 85% off you might as well just give it to me for free!" I joked.

"Okay." Quinn smiled, nodding along with my words as he punched more things into the register. "Consider it on the house!"

"Really? Quinn, oh my God, you're the best! My little sister is going to love this doll!" I praised him, making his face go red as I clutched the Starfire doll to my chest. "Thank you!" I called, heading towards the door.

"Uh- c-come back soon!" He called, leaning far over the counter to watch me go. I cast him one last look over my shoulder and smiled.

"Goodbye, Quinn."

"Goodbye." As soon as I turned back around I shot my mother a smug grin from across the parking lot, waving the toy and five dollar bill up in the air for them to see.

" _Good work, Lu! What a steal!"_ My mother cheered and I chuckled, handing the Starfire doll to Ana.

"Stop!" Shouted a voice. I felt my heart race as I whirled around to see two cops marching their way over. "That young man says you stole that doll." One of the cops said, jerking a thumb over his shoulder to the store with Quinn standing in the doorway, his arms crossed.

"What? No I-I didn't he said—" I began, panicked.

"Are you calling him a liar?" The other cop interjected.

"Yes!" I said frantically, from behind me Ana began to cry, my mother comforting her.

" _Tell them you got it at a bargain! That store clerk is lying!"_ My mother said, and I chanced a look back at them. Ana in my mother's lap as my mother looked on.

"You're in _America_ , taco! Speak English, _comprende_?" One of the cops said snidely. My father tried to step in, holding his hands up in a non-threatening manner.

"Listen, friends, I'm sure this is all just a—"

"Quiet!" Shouted the other cop, as he yanked on my arm.

"Ow! Hey, let go of me!" I cried out as I felt cold metal close around my wrist.

"Don't! You're hurting her!" I watched as my father took another step forward, trying to come to my aid only for the other cop to slug him across the face. My mother screamed.

Now fully panicked, I began to struggle, wriggling myself free of the cop's grasp with only one handcuff on, the other dangling from the chain.

"Now, wait! I—" But they weren't listening to me.

"Yeah we got a 10-100 down in front of the Quick-E store, we're gonna need backup." The cop said into his radio, both of them pulling out their batons.

"Wait—no—" Tears sprung to my eyes as the two cops advanced toward me.

" _Run, Luisa!"_ My mother cried, my father still out cold on the cement. I didn't have time to act though, as the nearest one tackled me. I screamed, kicking and scratching at his brute weight.

Above me was a clear blue sky. The other cop stood at me head, readying his baton. Tears streamed down the sides of my face and into my hair.

"Please!" I begged, not daring to take my eyes off him. In the struggle the Teen Titans backpack had been thrown from my shoulder and now lay beside me. I tried to feel for it, something I could use for protection.

The baton swung at my face.

Ow.

My head was throbbing, no, pulsating in time with my heart beat. It felt as is an invisible hammer was continuously pounding on the inside of my skull.

I was on a hard surface—the ground. Yes, that's right! I'm lying on the ground outside the Quick-E Store. The pain is from the baton. Oh crap. The Cops.

With great effort I forced my eyes open to see bright fluorescent lights shining above me. It was then that I noticed the steady beeping of a heart monitor. Jerking up into a sitting position I looked around to find myself in some kind of… laboratory? And what I was on was not the ground but actually a work slab. All in all making this way more unsettling than the police brutality I thought I'd be waking up to.

'What if they sold me to some testing facility?' Am I about to be a human lab rat for the rest of my existence? I would really rather not…

Just then the door on the other side of the lab opened. In walked a short woman with her hair tied back in a ponytail. Our eyes met and she gasped, dropping the clipboard she was carrying. She looked like she was about to turn tail and run but I shot out a hand.

"Wait!" She froze. "Please, stay—" I squinted to read the ID card that hung on a lanyard around her neck "—Barbara. I just woke up, where am I? How did I get here?" She stared at me for a moment and something seemed to come over her as she took a step closer.

"You're in the NEXUS laboratory. We found you unconscious in the city streets." Barbara said, keeping her eyes locked with mine as she moved another step closer.

This doesn't make sense. Where's my family? Was I right, was I sold by the cops to some underground illegal human experiment lab? But then why was I found on the ground?

"What's NEXUS? Why am I here?"

"NEXUS is an illegal corporation whose goal is to mass produce superpower genetics to sell to the highest bidder on the black market. We find people who carry the gene, enhance it, and then farm it. You're here because our scanners picked up your genetic code."

I'm sorry, what?

My head is killing me.

Maybe this is all some vivid dream.

 _Hopefully_ this is all some vivid dream…

"I…" I didn't know what to say—or really, I didn't know what I wanted to say first. "But superpowers… that's comic book stuff. Marvel, DC stuff. Why are you so freely telling me all of this?-… What's my power?" Barbara took another step closer and I could see the glassy look in her eye as she stared at me with awe.

"Superpowers are real, and I don't—I don't know why I'm…. I shouldn't be" I saw something flicker in her eyes and I knew I was losing her.

"Barbara," I said her name again, trying to sound enticing and calm when on the inside I was hardcore panicking. I smiled at her and the glassy look in her eyes returned.

"We don't know what your power is yet, not until we run you through our course which will exhaust every possible option." I grimaced.

"Sounds unpleasant, Barbara, do I have to? Can't you just… let me go?" It was a long shot, but also maybe not… maybe I'd be able to-

"Oh—no, I'm sorry Gen-E 742, I can't. We need your DNA." She looked truly sorry too. My face crumpled as I buried my face into my hands. This was bad, so so so so so so SO bad. I was doomed to live a life of human trafficking to some crazy white scientists that think they're Batman or something. Or I'd be sold to the highest bidder for their personal militia where I'd have to fight in their dumb guerilla warfare because they decided to pump me full with their Chemical X and mass produce Power Puff Girls—

There was a gasp.

My head shot up to see Barbara running back toward the door to grab her clipboard while speaking into a walkie-talkie.

"Gen-E 742 is awake, it shows powers of mental manipulation and persuasion. I'd get team down here now to start prepping her." There came a reply over the radio but it was too muffled for me to understand. "I know! Imagine the waves this'll make among the business entrepreneurs…" That doesn't sound good for me. I looked around the lab frantically. It sounded like if I was going to escape, now would be the time to do it. I moved to get off the slab only to realize my arms and legs were shackled down.

 _Of course_ they were…

I yanked on them experimentally. They seemed pretty sturdy, but there were a few links in the chain, giving me some leeway in movement.

 _Wait-_ I'm in a lab! There's gotta be something corrosive that could do some damage to these cuffs! I looked around for beakers or maybe something with a skull and cross-bone symbol, or that odd circle thing that means it's radioactive but there was nothing. I pursed my lips, blinking back tears. There was no way out. My time was up.

At that moment, a fleet of scientists came in through the door, flanked by three large, burly men in scrubs.

"Get her," the lead scientist said, looking at me over his horned rimmed glasses. I gasped as the larger men lunged at me, a syringe in the left one's hand. I could only imagine what it contained. I tried to pull away but my chains held me in place.

"Wait!" I pleaded and he froze, his eyes glassy. Unfortunately, another one snatched the syringe from his hands while the other held me down. I cried out as the needle was plunged into the side of my neck.

I have no idea how long I've been down here. Easily days, weeks—a month? Who knows? Not me, that's for sure. I haven't seen daylight since I arrived at this god forsaken facility, always kept underground.

Or maybe there were windows. I wouldn't know. My eyes were considered my power source so if I wasn't being tested or conditioned on one of Nexus' courses, I had a permanent blindfold covering my eyes, and handcuffs that bound my arms together from wrist to elbow. When they weren't using me, they kept me in a cell. From what I can tell it's a pretty nice cell, seeing as I've never seen the inside (blindfold). I don't have any roommates, in fact, I've never seen or heard anyone else here; I'm sure there are others, they're probably all just as isolated as me. I've got a bed, and a sink, and a toilet in my cell. The beds in the left corner farthest from the door and the sink and toilet are parallel. The walls are smooth and free of blemishes (in my head they're white because I think that fits with the whole sterile vibe of this place, but for all I know they could be Chartreuse). I have no idea how high the ceiling goes.

The tests they run are torturous but also the only source of entertainment, exercise, and time I get with my blindfold off so I couldn't really say I don't look forward to the testing. For the most part they're pretty standard evil corporation tests, according to my knowledge based on films and comics and the like. They'll hook me up to a lot of monitors and make me run as hard and as fast as I can until end up vomiting from overexertion. Always fun.

Then they'll record the information and then pump me with another dose of what I call Chemical X (I don't actually know what's in the syringe, but I'm pretty sure it makes my powers stronger and it burns like Hell too). Then I'll be made to hypnotize some mice and pigs and make them do menial little tasks. Finally, they'll make me control multiple mice and pigs to see just how many I can hypnotize to do my bidding at once.

One time they had me read the memories of a mouse. And as cool as it was to see life through the eyes of a mouse, mice have shit memories and it was a memory of the animal eating a hunk of cheese from about an hour ago.

I think I'm getting used to being here. They don't torture me, they're not Nazis. I'm just saying, this could all definitely be worse. This is certainly no concentration camp, they could be pulling some V for Vendetta shit and keep me locked up in a dirty dungeon where I have to drink toilet water to survive. I mean, seeing as someday they're going to harvest my DNA to make copies and then sell me to the highest bidder at some black market auction someday, I'm not saying I'm chummy with them… just…

Compliant.

Or really, I've just given up on trying to escape. The blindfold really is a huge inhibitor.

I miss my family. I wonder how they're holding up since I've gone missing. Did the police force their silence when they kidnapped me? Are they okay? I could only imagine what happened to them… maybe they were paid for their silence. Or maybe they were offered a deal and sold me—

I shook my head. No, _no_ , they'd never sell me, we're not from some small village out in the Himalayan Mountains where families sell their children and girls are married off to old men as their child brides, we live in Miami.

So really… could be a possibility.

CLANK.

My head shot up, looking in the direction of my cell door. What was that?

CLINK. CLANK. BOOM. CRASH. BAM. THUNK.

 _Ummm._

All that noise… sounds like a fight. I chewed on my lip and got out of my bed, moving in the direction of the doors. I reached out my hands, feeling for the edge of the door when-

Whoosh.

"You Gen-E 742?" Asked a voice. It wasn't one of the scientists, it was too young. Maybe one of the other prisoners like me?

"Yes," I said hesitantly.

"How would you like to get out of here?"


	2. Pendejo y Yo

A/N: It's a slow start with this ff but bare with me here

Use Your Illusion ACT III: Thank you for the feedback! I personally felt like the first chapter was pretty rough. I appreciate the feedback and I'll be looking forward to your next review! :)

* * *

"Oh, hell yes!" I felt the person shift in front of me and suddenly the blindfold was gone and I could finally see my savior.

"Says on your stats chart here your powers are hypnosis and memory manipulation." Said Robin, formerly Batman's sidekick and later Nighwing from the DC comic _**f i c t**_ _ **i**_ _ **o**_ _ **n**_ _ **a**_ ** _l_** universe, "Think you could give me a hand with the guards coming our way?"

Okay. So. I'm having a psychotic break. I've grown so despondent in my cell that I've imagined a fictional character to my rescue. I'm probably actually sleeping in my bed behind me now.

I gasped in pain as a bullet grazed my arm, drawing out a thin trail of blood. Looking over Robin's shoulder, I saw at least six or seven guards charging towards us, some already calling for backup. So, that hurt meaning this can't be a dream, and secondly, "stop! You're on our side, fight them!" The men's eyes became glassy as they turned around to fight the backup they had just called for. "That should give us some time to escape, my hypnosis doesn't last for long though, once I'm a certain distance away, so we better—"

"Great! Let's go, the file room is this way I believe," Robin declared, yanking at my chained arms and pulling me off down the hall in the other direction.

The file room was divided in half, one side was taken up by a huge computer mainframe with multiple monitors while the other half had floor to ceiling file cabinets.

"What are we looking for exactly?" I asked, trailing my still cuffed hands over some of the files that lay out on the table. Gen-Y 626, Gen-B 841, Gen-D 100, Gen-E 742—hey wait that's me.

"Any prevalent information that would help me take down this corporation." It didn't escape my attention that he said 'me' instead of 'us'. So no team yet? Young Justice or Teen Titans, I wasn't sure. "Think you could do me a favor and scrub the video files of me breaking in here?" I frowned.

"How am I supposed to do that?" I asked.

"Isn't one of your powers to manipulate memories? Well, manipulate the computer memories." Huh, you know neither I nor any of the scientists had ever thought to try my powers out on inanimate objects like computers before, but now that he says that, it sounds totally plausible.

"Never tried it before, but I'll give it a shot. Y'mind?" I said, holding up my cuffs.

"Oh right," he said, pulling out a lock pick from his utility belt. In seconds, the cuffs fell away and I rubbed my wrists, glad to be free from those metal confines. I moved to one of the monitors and touched one of my hands to each side. Focusing on the images, the tape began to rewind, showing me and Robing make our way down the hall, and then him at my door, then Robin fighting his way through the facility, then to him on the roof breaking in, and then he wasn't there.

"Okay, think I did it." I said, pulling back my hands. They were covered in dust. Ew. When I didn't get a response I looked over to see Robin tying away on another one of the computers, a flash drive which I could only assume held his hacking software was plugged into the side of the monitor. "Cool, thanks for that, Gen-E. And pulling that off on your first try, you're really helping me out." I said in a fake falsetto voice, "oh, yeah well all in a day's work." Then I remembered the file with my name on it.

I should probably look at that. Or steal it. Probably both.

I snatched up the file labeled Gen-E 742 just as I heard shouts come from down the hall. I poked my head out the door to the file room to confirm my suspicions. Lots of guards coming our way. Lots of angry guards with guns and shields and batons and Tasers coming out way.

"Uh, you 'bout done there sport? Because we got company." I asked, quickly swinging back into the file room and slamming the door behind me and locking it.

CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG!

I yelped, moving away as bullets ricochet off the metal door.

"All done here, let's move out." Robin said, yanking out the flash drive and stowing it away in one of the many pockets in his utility belt and pulling out some odd boomerang thing with a flashing red light.

Wait is that a bomb?

Oh that's totally a bomb.

Robin chucked the thing at the wall opposite to us before rushing over to me. Grabbing me around the waist he said, "You're probably going to want to cover your ears," as he threw his cape over the two of us. Taking his advice, I clapped my hands over my ears just before a loud explosion knocked into us. I stumbled but Robin's arm kept me upright.

"Subtle," I coughed, as drywall and other rubble filled the air, "good thing I erased that footage, they'll never know anyone was here."

"We don't have time for sarcastic one liners," Robin said, pulling me through the hole in the wall he had just made and into the night air, "we gotta go!"

Night! Air! Fresh air! Wow!—It smells like low-tide and hot trash, but still—non-filtered air! And stars! And I feel a breeze! Wind! –Oh, it's cold. I can hear cars rushing by in the distance telling me there must be a freeway near and the low-tide says we're by the ocean and—

"Come one!" Robin tugged at my elbow, rounding a corner and dragging me down an ally. "My motorcycle is park just around here."

"Some of us don't have shoes onaaAAH!" I let out a strangled cry, cutting myself off as I felt the wind from the bullets rush by me on all sides. Robin glanced behind us and swore. Picking me up, he tossed me onto his back. No longer having to drag me behind him, he was able to pick up the pace considerably.

Rounding another corner, Robin set me down and pulled off the tarp he'd been using to hide his bike.

"Get on," he said, thrusting a spare helmet with a yellow R on the side into my hands. He didn't need to say it twice as I quickly put the helmet on and scrambled onto the motor bike behind him, wrapping my arms tightly around his middle.

We zipped off into the night, the sounds of gunfire fading behind us.

With our pursuers lost in the streets behind us, I allowed myself to enjoy being out of my cell and that facility more fully.

We were in a city! A _cold_ city, a **big** city, a city with lots of neon lights, a city with night life. This definitely wasn't Florida, and _most certainly_ not Little Havana. This was not home. And despite my joy of finally being free, now came the cold, heavy weight of fear. I was in a strange city, I had just been rescued by some guy in a Robin cosplay outfit who fancied himself a real life vigilante—and I got on his motorcycle with him! What was I thinking? _—Well I was thinking I didn't want to die or get recaptured by the people shooting at us._ —But this guy is totally cracked! He could be some weird fetish serial killer, or maybe working for a rival company for Nexus. Good going me, out of the frying pan and into the fire.

It felt like a relatively short drive (or maybe Robin had just been going obscenely over the speed limit for someone driving in the city) before we stopped at the entrance to an underground parking garage.

Apparently this is where Robin had been living for the last few months. Attached to the garage was an apartment complex still under construction, he had taken the liberty of commandeering one of the finished apartments for himself (he's squatting).

"Make yourself at home," he said, walking in ahead of me and making a beeline for the MacGyver computer he had sitting on the floor in the corner. The room was pretty barren, a blow up mattress was next to the door, a few blankets and a pillow lay strewn on top of it. Bits and pieces of technology sat under a light next to the computer which must be his work station. I stood frozen by the door, not wanting to get too comfortable when my mind was still on high alert.

"No, wait, I need answers." Robin looked up from the stack of papers he had been rifling through to look back at me.

"Yeah, so do I. That's what I'm hoping for," he held of the flash drive, waving it above his head like that was the answer I was looking for.

"No _no_ , I mean, like," I struggled to put everything I wanted to say into words. " _Why_ did you save me? There were probably a ton of other people in there you could have also rescued but you only got me. Where _am_ I? Who _are_ you?" Robin took a moment, processing through all of my questions before he turned to fully face me.

"You're right, I can definitely answer those questions for you right now. First, if you didn't know, the place you were being held in was called Nexus, it's a—"

"Yup, already know that, evil corporation, black market, blah blah, mass production of super powers." I dismissed before he could launch into a subject I already knew about.

"O-okay," he said, a little taken aback but pressed on, "a friend of mine from another city informed me about Gen-E 742 and how word had been getting around about the mental persuasion super power and the waves this would make in white collar crime. They asked me to intercept the product before it had a chance to hit the market." Here he paused, scratching the back of his head, "honestly I was kind of expecting a Petri dish, not a… girl." I crossed my arms, cocking my head to the side. "You're in Jump City, and I guess we never got a chance to introduce ourselves earlier," he got up and walked towards me, holding out one green gloved hand, "I'm Robin."

"Like hell you are."

"Excuse me?" His hand and jaw dropped in surprise.

"You're—you're _not_ Robin, and this _isn't_ Jump City." I uncrossed my arms only to cross them again, pacing a little bit as my brain tried to logic this out. "You're some delusional super nerd or—or _something_ … _estupido pendejo,_ you need medical help. I mean, thanks and all for the rescue but superheroes aren't a real thing."

"What?" He looked incredulous.

" _Me piro,_ " I shook my head, making my towards the door only to be yanked back. "Hey!" I yelped only for a gloved hand to get clapped over my mouth.

"Listen," Robin said into my ear, "I don't know what I need to do to prove I'm not crazy, but you need to be quieter or we'll get caught!"

" _¡Me resbala, este es tu maletín!_ I'm not the one squatting in an apartment complex!" I struggled to get out of his grip but he was too strong.

"Quiet!" He hissed, and dragged me over to his computer, "here if you'd just be quiet for a moment—" He let go of me and I was really, really tempted to run (he'd probably catch me almost instantly anyways) I watched him warily as he went back to sifting through his stack of papers before pulling one out and handing it to me. "Look." I looked. It was a newspaper article.

THE DAILY PLANET (I've never heard of that newspaper before)

June 19th, 1999 (That can't be right it's 2019 not 1999)

BATMAN AND ROBIN STOP THE JOKER FROM BLOWING UP HOSPITAL

Below the heading was a grainy black and white picture of Batman and Robin, standing beside truck as a man in a strait jacket and mask was being carted into the back. Though a few years younger, the kid in the picture was undeniably the same kid who stood in front of me now. I felt the paper. It was thin and delicate and a little yellowed; if this was a fake, it was a damn good one.

I looked back up at Robin, then back down to the picture. Then to Robin. Then to the picture. Robin. The picture. Robin. Picture. Robin. Picture.

"That's—you're—can't—but—this!" I spluttered, my vision began to swim as I became lightheaded, blood was pounding in my ears and it had suddenly become very hard to swallow. Robin reached out and caught me as I crumpled to the floor.

What. The. Hell.


	3. Lets Get Meta

Feedback would be great, please and thank you.

* * *

My head hurts. My _arm_ hurts. It's so bright, am I not wearing my blindfold?

"Morning," came a voice and I shot up, wide awake now. _Lab, escape, rescue, powers, Batman, DC, Robin, real, me!_ The last 24 hours came flooding back to me and my eyes snapped to Robin who was sitting at the foot of the air mattress I was laying on. His eyes were wide, probably surprised by my sudden movement. In his hands he held a box of _Bat O's!_ cereal and a plastic Ziploc baggie. He offered them to me like a peace offering. "I, uh, don't really have bowls or utensils… or milk. But I thought I'd offer you some... breakfast?" He gave an awkward smile as I took the box and bag from him. I poured some of the bat shaped cereal into the baggie, realizing my own hunger the moment the tasteless, dry cereal hit my tongue. Never had flavorless cardboard cereal tasted so good!

I handed the box back towards Robin, he shoved one hand into the box, pulled out a handful of the cereal and began to eat too. "So uh… you wanna tell me what all that was about?" That? Honestly, I could barely look in his direction without having a panic attack. Just trying to grapple with the concept of being in a—in a— _( an alternate dimension?)_ _here_ was giving me a serious existential crisis. I watched him for a moment, my cheeks filled with cereal. I chewed thoughtfully.

"No," his face scrunched up with confusion, "I'm still pretty confused myself, I need to do some research of my own but then I'll get back to you." He processed this, I could tell he was really trying to understand what I just said, even though it probably made about as much sense to him as it did when I freaked out about the existence of superheroes.

"Okay," he said slowly, seeming to find that to be a reasonable enough response. "Then do you want to hit the library?" I nodded enthusiastically.

"Yes, actually, that'd be perfect." Yes, libraries shouldn't have changed. All libraries are buildings filled with books and computers and at least one or two homeless people. It'll be comforting to be around something familiar as well as useful. Robin nodded, getting up off the floor.

"We'll leave in 20. You can borrow some of my civilian clothes, if you want." I looked down at my prison scrubs and nodded. "And this place doesn't have a working shower yet but you could probably give yourself a cold birdbath in the kitchen sink… Umh.."

"Luisa," I offered, remembering how he still only knows me as Gen-E 742.

"Luisa," he seemed to chew on the name for a moment before he smiled. "Alright Luisa," he hands me a blue button down and jeans, "there's a bathroom down the hall that you can change in. There's no door installed yet but I won't look."

"My hero," I snorted and took the clothes from him. After being kidnaped, tested like a lab rat for weeks, and the whole 'fictional world come to life' thing, worrying that Boy Wonder might see me in my knickers just seemed trivial in comparison.

Following Robin's instructions, I made my way to the bathroom. It was barren without the plumbing installed, but there was a sink and a mirror—

If I hadn't been too shocked, I would have screamed. At first I thought someone else was in the room with me, but then I realized…

"Is everything alright?" Robin asked, appearing in the doorway after he heard my telenovela worthy gasp from the living room. He looked around the tiny bathroom, trying to see what had scared me but all I could do was point at the mirror.

"That," I said in horror, "is _not_ me!" Robin just looked more confused as he looked back and forth between the mirror and me.

"Your reflection?" He clarified, raising one eyebrow.

"That— _no_! That's not what I look like! That's not _me_!" On top of taking away my sense of reality, my family, my _everything that made sense in the world_ , now I don't even have my _looks_! The girl in the mirror stared back at me with equal horror in her Hi-Liter yellow eyes. Experimentally, I held a hand up to touch my hair and the girl in the mirror copied me, resting one brown hand on her Draco Malfoy blonde hair. I wanted to cry as I pawed at my hair and face. I used to have pretty black hair and hazel eyes, and not to sound self-absorbed but I liked the way I looked. _I was hot_. I was proud of my Cuban nationality and that was evident in my appearance. This was just… _insulting_.

"Oh," Robin said, awkwardly. Wait did I just say all that out loud? "Um, I'm sorry then. But if it's any help at all, I think you still look fine" I pursed my lips, frowning.

Whatever.

I got dressed with my back to the mirror. I _reject_ that image of myself.

"I apologize in advance," I said as I came out of the bathroom, dressed in Robin's civilian clothing. "But your jeans are going to be _crazy_ stretched out when you get them back." The shirt had fit fine (I knew it would), the pants, however, were too long at the bottoms and I had to roll them up quite a few times in order to see my feet, it had been another struggle to get the jeans buttoned closed and it was currently giving me an _incredibly_ unflattering muffin top and flat ass. "Also, I need shoes. And my own clothes. But the prior is more pressing than the latter." Robin paused what he was doing, it seemed like he had been in the middle of decrypting the flash drive from last night. Looking up at me he nodded.

"We'll go shopping while we're in downtown then as well. Also," he handed me a pair of shoes, "you can keep the clothes, honestly, I really only ever wear them once in a blue moon anyways."

Downtown Jump City was probably the most generic city I'd ever come across. It had a park with a fountain which is where I currently was, a pizzeria, an arcade (okay that's pretty cool, it's hard to find arcades in 2018), a record store and an outdoor mall. In the park by the fountain was a giant detailed map of all the districts in Jump City. North was the business center; I could see the sky scrapers from my park bench. East was the water front, the warf, the docks, the beach. South was residential, filled with mostly suburban neighborhoods and fancy apartment complexes. And lastly, West was food and entertainment, it had the high-end restaurants, the dinner and theaters, the cinemas and so on.

True to his word, Robin did buy me a pair of shoes, they were a pair of black lace-up sneakers, a pair of pink socks with blue lightning bolts covering them stuffed inside.

"They only sold novelty socks," he explained but I shrugged away his explanation. I didn't really care about the color or design of my sock, I was just happy _I had socks_. Shoving my feet into my shoes, I wiggled my toes around. I couldn't remember the last time I wore shoes; it must have been before I was kidnapped. "Ready?" I nodded enthusiastically. I was completely ready to figure out what the actual fuck was up.

The library was just what I expected; I had no idea just how comforting it would be to be in an environment I was familiar in once again. Jump City Public Library was a spacious two stories, with lots of windows to let the light in, and in the center of the first floor were three long rows filled with gently humming computers.

Robin quickly wandered off, probably to do his own research, as I sat down at the nearest computer. Pressing the power button, I watched the screen slowly come to life as the thing powered on.

Alright, now… _what the hell do I search_?

I quickly came to the realization that I actually had no idea what I was doing.

What do I look up? What am I trying to prove? What? _What?_ What do you do when you suddenly find yourself in an alternate reality? Is there a WikiHow for that? Does WikiHow exist? I looked down at the date stamped in the bottom right corner of the screen, it read: 5-13-2003.

Nope. WikiHow does not exist yet.

I placed my head in my hands. Okay, chill out. Start small. Just start by looking up alternate realities. I typed that into the search bar, drumming my fingers on the desk as my cursor turned into an hourglass.

When the results finally loaded, there was a definition, and a few links to books, until one popped out at me on the theories of multiverse and parallel universes. I clicked on the link and it sent me to some academic journalism forum.

'In a new quantum theory "Many-Interacting Worlds," scientists proposed that parallel universes do exist and that rather than evolving independently, these worlds interact with each other. In a bold new theory described in a study published in the journal Physical Review X on Oct. 23, Michael Hall, from the Centre for Quantum Dynamics at the Griffith University in Australia, and colleagues proposed a new quantum theory based on the concept of interaction between parallel universes.

The researchers proposed that such universes really exist and they interact with each instead of evolving independently. They also claimed that these universes influence each other by a subtle repulsive force, which could explain some of the irregularities in quantum mechanics that have puzzled scientists for a long time.'

Huh. Sounds like a start, going back to the search engine, I typed in: 'parallel universe theories', this time the results looked much more promising. First link that popped up was a detailed list of all the different theories concerning parallel universes.

'The idea of parallel universes basically says that space is so big that the rules of probability imply that surely, somewhere else out there, are other planets exactly like Earth. In fact, an infinite universe would have infinitely many planets, and on some of them, the events that play out would be virtually identical to those on our own Earth. Parallel universes depend on two assumptions: one, that the universe is infinite (or virtually so). And two, within an infinite universe, every single possible configuration of particles in a Hubble volume takes place multiple times.

Parallel universe is a consequence of the many worlds interpretation (MWI) from quantum physics in which every single quantum possibility inherent in the quantum wavefunction becomes a real possibility in some reality. In string theory, the multiverse is a theory in which our universe is not the only one; many universes exist parallel to each other.

In some universes, there are copies of you sitting right here right now reading this in other universes and other copies of you that are doing other things.

Other theories contain parallel universes that are so radically different from our own that they follow entirely different fundamental laws of physics (or at least the same laws manifest in fundamentally different ways), likely collapsing or expanding so quickly that life never develops.

Concepts of a multiverse are evident in the cyclical infinite worlds of ancient Hindu cosmology. In this viewpoint, our world is one of an infinite number of distinct worlds, each governed by its own gods on their own cycles of creation and destruction.'

I chewed my bottom lip, my head still trying to process all of the quantum mechanics jargon. Okay… okay, so. I suppose that sort of explains where I am. If there's a parallel universe where this is all a comic series, then there's got to be a parallel universe where the comic series was never created, and _another_ one where it's real. But I'm still left with why and how. All these sites claim that, even though there are theories to prove the existence of parallel universes, they all agree that if one did exist (they do, this is a hello from the multiverse) there would be absolutely no way of contacting them or reaching them as we are confined to our own… Hubble mass or whatever that journal said. I sighed deeply, my head was beginning to ache. I shoved the palms of my hands against my closed eyes, blocking out all light as I tried to process everything.

So, let's see. If it stands with reason that the universe is ever expanding and parallel universes grow with each decision every makes ever not to mention factoring in elements and laws of physics and basic structure—ugh, then going off standard scientific experimental rules, basically everything in one universe is a controlled variable where there exists a parallel where one variable is changed, and another parallel where a different controlled variable was changed and so on and so forth into infinity. If you believe that, then you could easily argue that one of those many parallel universes would be something that is fictional in another. What if I'm fictional in another universe? What if my life is just a book, or a show, or a movie or a… or a … _fanfiction_?

No wait, that's fucking stupid. Who'd write about me?

….

Still, doesn't entirely explain the _fictional_ universe part. I wonder what would happen if I just typed in: fictional universe real?

"Luisa?" I had to stifle a gasp as a voice suddenly sounded from right beside me.

"Jesus Christ, Robin!" I said breathlessly, laying a hand on my chest, "you scared me!" Robin threw his hands up in apology.

"Hey, sorry! I just wanted to know if you wanted to get an early dinner?" What? Dinner? He had to mean lunch, it was only a little after 1pm where we got here. I check the clock on the computer dash, it read: 5:15pm. Damn.

I then came to the realization that all I had eaten today were a few handfuls of dry cereal and for the last few weeks were the nasty portion controlled pre-cooked, re-heated, luke warm, public school cafeteria food worthy meals of Nexus and I had a bad, _bad_ craving for

"Pizza."

"Sure," Robin smiled, "there's a pizzeria around the corner." I felt myself salivate a little in anticipation, my stomach growling in eagerness. I wasted little to no time turning off my computer and hustling out of the library.

Once outside I had to stop once again and admire the _hum_ of the city. The world was so quiet inside the lab, it was easy to forget that things existed outside those linoleum floors and fluorescent hallways. The sky was faint orange with the early evening sunlight, the lights were visible in the different buildings as people worked, and talked, and ate, and drank, and made plans to wake up earlier tomorrow morning that they knew they were never going to really follow through on, and people laughing, and singing horribly off-key along with the television and

"Luisa?" Robin was already several paces ahead of me, and having realized I wasn't beside him, he had turned back around to find me ogling the many people living their individual lives, so secluded that the noisy world seemed quiet.

"Right, coming!" I sprinted to catch up. I laced my arm through Robin's which seemed to catch him off guard. "What were you doing?"

"Researching." He says dismissively as he leads me inside the pizzeria. Wow, it really had just been around the corner. I frown up at him. He gave no more detail than what answered my question, which seems to be a pattern with him. He's got this macho Mr. Cool act where he gets all mysterious, like I'm some random civilian or reporter who has no business snooping in on his superhero investigation.

"Ah, and I know that if it had anything to do with Nexus, the place that _kidnapped_ me, or myself for that matter, I'm sure you'd tell me since I'm more involved in that respect than you and you wouldn't keep that important information from me. _Especially_ , since you expect the same from me." He didn't say anything, but I knew the message had been received.

"Cheese or pepperoni?" He asked instead.

"What about soy cheese on gluten-free thin crust with spinach, olives, jalapeños, bell peppers, onion, artichoke hearts, and—" I caught the look on Robin's face. "Cheese works for me."

He ordered one large cheese pizza with a side of garlic bread sticks.

We sat down in a small corner booth by the window, away from the clamor of the crowded restaurant, it felt uncomfortably date-like. That is, until Robin set his elbows on the table with a look on his face that meant business.

"Alright," he began, "you said you'd tell me what all that was about last night once you did some research at the library." 'All that' meaning when it fully hit me that the real Robin, Dick Grayson, was in my presence despite all logical possibility, and then me promptly passing out.

"Yes I remember," I replied flippantly, taking a sip from my water. "I've got a working theory now." I wasn't about to give up all my information when all he gave me was 'research'.

"Listen," he said, grabbing my arm and forcing me to look at him. "I need to know that I can trust you, Luisa."

"Trust _me_? I need to know that I can trust _you_ , you're the one that kidnapped me from my kidnappers!" I replied hotly, yanking my arm from his grasp.

"Ki-kidnapped you? I rescued you!" Robin snapped back, earning some awkward looks from the people surrounding us. He lowered his voice, "listen, I _want_ to be able to talk to you freely, but first I _need_ to make sure that you're safe." He held out his hand, "you work with me, and I'll work with you. It'll be mutual, okay?" I eyed him for a moment, the green glove, the masked face…

"Alright," I took his hand, "I've got this working theory that I'm from an alternate dimension—a parallel universe, you see? I come from Florida, 2019. Almost twenty years in the future in a universe where you and," I waved my hand around, " _this world,_ is a comic series."


End file.
